One Day At Azkaban
by Vitugglan
Summary: Rita Skeeter drags out her poison pen when she sees Hogwarts’ new Potions Master at Azkaban: “I’m sure the parents who send their children to Hogwarts would love to know why the new Potions Professor is waiting to get into the prison!”rn(challenge: Rando


_**Disclaimer**: This is a piece of fan fiction. Harry Potter and all characters, magic, events, royalties, etc., are the ideas and property of J.K. Rowling and whoever she designates to translate them to book, recording or film. I hope you'll enjoy my own take on this particular universe, even though I don't own it and didn't invent it.

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Snape did not care for Azkaban. He had almost been sent there once, and entering its forbidding gates and feeling its soul-sucking stones around him, made him shiver to his marrow.

The fact was, though, that he had to go to Azkaban on certain occasions. He was in demand because of his abilities with the restricted potions which used Dark Arts in their making. He would take the potions to the guard between the outer and second walls, wait for the guard to have his delivery signed off by the Head of Medical Research, then leave as quickly as possible.

It never took him less than an hour to be processed out.

It was the third of July, a sultry morning already hot with the summer heat when Severus arrived at the outer gate. A new guard was being trained in his duties, so the entry process was slow. Severus sat on a bench overlooking the misty seascape and simmered. The sun wound itself through the threads of his black robes, making him sweat.

"Severus Snape!"

He groaned. He knew that voice: Rita Skeeter, the columnist with the nastiest gossip anywhere in the Wizarding World. He had known her, or at least known of her, in his school days. She had been a seventh-year when he was just entering Hogwarts. And every male student from fifth year on up, hoped to score with the notoriously loose young witch. Even several years after she had left, her exploits remained legendary.

She bustled over to him, her green pen out, glasses perched on her nose so she could peer over their tops at him. "What on earth are you doing here at Azkaban? I _thought_ you were _absolved_ of all charges!"

He scowled at her, but otherwise gave no sign he'd understood her.

"Come on, Severus, you can tell _me_ why you're here. I'm sure the parents who send their children to Hogwarts would _love_ to know why the new Potions Professor is waiting to get into the prison!"

"Because the new Potions Professor is delivering medicine to the prison."

"Oh?" Her ears perked up like antennae, "Is someone ill? One of the captured Death Eaters, perhaps?"

"No."

She turned her head so she was looking at him out of the corners of her eyes. "O-oh? Are you certain you are telling me the truth?"

"Yes."

"You don't expect me to believe that, do you? You're sweating!"

Severus looked at her, then up at the sky, where the sun hung heavy in the rising mists.

She smirked and put her finger against his jaw. "I'll get your secrets, Potions Master."

The cistern door beside the huge gates opened and an Azkaban guard, dressed in his prismatic purple robe, stepped out and gestured for both Severus and Rita to enter. Severus allowed the columnist to go ahead of him. She was one pest he didn't want to his rear.

The guard took the bag of potions and slung it over his shoulder. "Miss Skeeter, the Prefect of the Guard will be with you in about an hour. Professor, I'll get your receipt as soon as I deliver these. If you'll both have a seat?"

The exercise area between the outer and second gates was open to the sun, and closed in enough by the high walls, to have become a steam-bath. Severus sat on a bench that held the sliver of a shadow and tried to remain cool. Rita sat at right angles to him, facing full into the climbing sun.

She crossed her legs and made a few notes. She looked around. Severus watched her out of the corner of his eye. She still had an attractive body.

"I could do with a firewhiskey," she said, lifting the edge of her blouse and flapping it to get some air. He noticed sweat trickling down her chest toward her cleavage.

"_Oh!"_

The voice could only have come from the arm of the prison behind Rita's head. She turned around. A high window, with a thick iron grill, was above her.

"They wouldn't be torturing someone now, would they?" she asked.

"I have no idea what happens here," Severus replied.

"_Mmm, oohh!"_

Rita's poison pen was out and poised. "He sounds like he's suffering," she sighed in mock pity, an eager gleam in her eye.

Severus disagreed, but he held his tongue.

"_Mmm, yes, right there!"_

Severus smirked at the expression on Rita's face. She recalled herself and adjusted her blouse.

"_Come on!"_

"Perhaps that's the medical wing," she suggested, crossing her other leg.

"The medical wing is in the centre of the complex," Severus replied.

"_Ah, luv, you're magic!"_

She craned her neck and gaped. Her glasses slid to the end of her nose.

"_That's right! Don't stop now!"_

"_Gods, I want you!"_ a woman's voice chimed in.

Severus and Rita both gawked up at the opening.

"_Don't you dare come without me!"_

"_Then hop on!"_

Severus checked to see Rita's reaction just as she checked for his. They stared at each other as the sounds of love-making increased.

A drop of sweat made its slow way down Rita's chest and into the confines of her cleavage. Severus couldn't take his eyes away. When the drop disappeared, he was able to raise his eyes.

"_Hurry! Hurry!"_

"_Hush! They'll hear us!"_

"_He's gone. He took something... Oh!"_

The couple became louder, but less articulate. Rita fanned herself with her note pad. Severus leaned back into the last remains of shadow and wished he could remove his robes. Sweat prickled at his collar and along his arms and legs. He was hot all over.

The couple were nearly shrieking now. Rita leaned her head against the wall behind her. "Merlin, I'm hot!" she gasped.

"It is a bit warm..."

"A bit warm? You've got shade!"

She lunged at his bench and sank down beside him, her head seeking the stones that weren't yet touched by the sun. She spread her body out, her hand landing in his lap.

Severus froze. That hadn't been a good move on her part. Her fingers clenched at the black material of his robes and he gripped the bench seat.

She unclasped his robe and reached in farther. Severus closed his eyes. Not now, he thought, though he wouldn't fight her. Above them, the couple continued with their play.

Rita found what she was looking for, to his mixed relief and alarm. She knew what she was doing. Severus gritted his teeth. He felt the sweat from her palm all around him.

She mumbled something, then straddled his lap. His eyes flew open. Her chest was right in front of him. Both hands were on his shoulders now. She settled down. Her nails combed through his hair as she bent to kiss him.

"_Not yet... not yet..."_

Rita's hips were moving. He raised his hands, he put his arms around her.

"_Hurry!"_

She moaned against his lips.

"_Oh, Gods! Oh, Gods!"_

Severus held her tighter. She grunted, her tongue sliding over his lips.

"_Yes! Yes!"_

"Now," Rita whispered.

Severus couldn't help it. He had to comply. The man's voice above them wafted down in fading groans. Rita fell back against his arms.

The yard between the outer and second walls was drenched in a faded light. Rita Skeeter stood unsteadily on her feet and adjusted her skirt. She slid her pen back inside her bag and sat down at right angles to him again.

"Why don't we just forget we saw each other here?" she said.

Severus finished clasping his robes. "That would be a good idea."


End file.
